Flying Over The Grand Canyon

As a ‘thank you’-gift for our parents, who brought me, my sis and our boyfriends to the road-trip of a lifetime in the USA, we surprised them with a flight over the Grand Canyon. Our gift had to be something surprising, adventurous and something slightly overpriced so it wouldn’t be a ‘simple’ gift they would have bought themselves. After a number of brainstorm sessions we came with the idea of booking a flight somewhere along our road-trip adventures.. With a countless number of opportunities it was hard to choose just one – Las Vegas, San Francisco, Bryce Canyon, Grand Canyon, Yellow Stone, National Glacier Park etcetera – all were good options. But to be fair.. nothing beats a flight over the Grand Canyon.. so there we went.

The airport of the Grand Canyon flights was close to our hotel. Not that ‘close’ actually means ‘close’ in the USA as it does in the Netherlands – it was still an hour drive away. However, we could easily combine the trip to the airport with a trip to the South Rim of The Grand Canyon. After arriving at the airport we found a dozen of other tourists, who all had their own adventure planned for the day. And while there were only a couple of airplanes with room for just six to eight people, it was worth the wait.

After meeting our pilot we were introduced to the smallest plane I’ve ever stepped foot in. Let me remind you; I love the fuss about and around flying but I HATE flying itself. I now know that I prefer a Boeing over a small ‘thing’ like this, though. But besides of the fact that my chair had my nails printed in them and that I couldn’t breath because of my extra-tightened seatbelt.. and EVEN THOUGH our pilot let the seven year old girl in our plane fly, were all survived.

Our plain took off and flew over the woods for ten minutes or so, before we finally saw the canyon arrive in sight. It didn’t take long after that before we flew above the depth of the Grand Canyon with our little plane. I made use of the audio guide that was installed in the plane. But to be fair, while some lady (who was horrible in translating English into Dutch) chatted in my ear about all that we saw, I was long gone. I haven’t heard a thing about what she said. I was dreaming about my view. I mean, seeing the Grand Canyon from above, and seeing the Colorado River flow through it, is one of the most beautiful sights I’ve seen in a long time. And the photos below will tell you exactly why.

Wow! Those views are incredible! I hate flying in small airplanes as well. I did a seaplane tour earlier this year and was freaking out, but the vistas made it all worth while. This is definitely something I would love to do next time I’m in Las Vegas.